


Coincidence or destiny

by JackNotFromTitanic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam (Voltron) Lives, Caring Lance (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mainly Klance, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackNotFromTitanic/pseuds/JackNotFromTitanic
Summary: With Keith being a thief, Shiro a cop and Lance working as a barkeeper to get some pocket money for his new game he wants to buy.One day Keith nearly gets caught by the police because of an injury but to his luck he finds a place to flee to. That he meets a pretty barkeeper is just coincidence.. or isn't it?
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

"Get him!" 

Keith ran as fast as he could. Panting and in pain he watched out for any place he could flee into. He had to get away. He was never this close to being caught and all of that only because he got hurt on his leg earlier. 

"He ran into the narrow alley there! We can get him, hurry!"

Fuck.. if he doesn't find someplace to run into, he would be in a lot of trouble. Where could he..

"Hurry we nearly got him!"

He saw the light of multiple flashlights and heard the steps coming closer quickly and he knew now was the last chance to get away.. He had to find some place, any place fast!

"There!" Right after he whisper-shouted that out he put his hands above his mouth to hold it close quickly before he heard the steps coming closer. Quietly but as fast as he could with his injured leg, he went to the direction of the back entrance of a bar. He was glad that someone just brought a trash bag out of there and left the door open to most likely get another one outside, so he took the chance and limped inside. 

"Where did he go?!"

Being inside he heard the shouts from the police outside, so he quickly went further into the bar after taking off his mask and putting it into his bag. He reached the bar counter and saw a boy at his age, polishing glasses with a white towel. The glass was reflecting light on the brown-haired boy who looked so.. beautiful. Keith stared for a while until the young barkeeper turned around to find a dark haired boy with black clothes standing where the customers shouldn't be.

"Err.. Excuse me, but the customers should be on the other side of the counter." He looked at Keith, clearly thinking about how suspicious he looked.

"R..right sorry.." The dark haired boy slowly went to the right side of the counter. If he would leave now it would look even more suspicious so he sat down, relieved that the pressure on his leg has decreased with the weight being off it. 

"So.. What would you like?"

He looked around. All the bottles looked like he could never afford a drink there so he went for the cheapest idea he got.

"Could you give me a water?"

Lance couldn't help but chuckle at that, what got Keith to look at him in confusion.

"I thought you were maybe asking for a job here or something like that, 'cause you seem to be close to my age, but now you asked for water"

Keith looked down, slightly blushing. Maybe he should've just left before.

"Don't worry don't worry, you want water? You'll get some!"

That said he took a clean glass, got water inside of it and placed it in front of Keith.

"There you go." 

"Thanks"

After some awkward silence the barkeeper spoke again while leaning onto the counter.

"So.. what were you doing behind the counter earlier?"

"I.. well.. I searched for the restroom" It didn't quite sound like the truth in his opinion but Lance didn't question him further because a new customer came in.

"Hello Sir, what kind of drink can I serve you?" The brown-haired boy asked while Keith turned around to look at the man who entered. Oh no.. A police uniform, well built and-

"KEITH?! What are you doing here?!" Shiro stepped closer and sat next to Keith. GOD He just thought he was fucked but to his rescue he knew the man.

"I err.. I went on a walk and got thirsty so I went in here"

Shiro looked at the drink Keith had, obviously concerned.

"It's just water Shiro" Keith said.

Shiro seemed to relax now but also looked pretty exhausted. 

"Could I get a water as well?" The bigger man asked.

Lance smiled and gave it to him. "There you go"

Shiro sighed after thanking him and drank some sips."

"You look pretty exhausted" Keith said after observing Shiro's expression. The taller man smiled slightly to him, showing him the face meaning "No need to worry".

"It's nothing.. just that some colleagues nearly caught the guy we were searching, but we totally lost him.." Shiro looked at his water.

"Must be pretty busy being a police officer huh?" Lance asked with an understanding look.

Shiro looked up at him. "Well, someone has to keep society safe"

Keith felt a little bad after that statement. He was a thief and Shiro was one of the guys who were searching him earlier before the real hunting beagan. Shiro just wants to help keeping society peaceful and Keith is one of the people who are doing the exact opposite. Not like he wanted people to feel bad or something, but he needed to survive. After finally coming out of the foster system, Keith didn't really have much money and applied to many jobs but didn't get one or got kicked out after a short time and then before he knew it, some old "friends" asked for his help. First he didn't know that they were going to steal things but when he found out, he couldn't just get out of the group. They were all once in foster care some still are, so they are saying things like "We have to stick together" and "We need your help" because all of them were broke as hell. It wasn't just about money but about trying not to starve or to get out of a bad family for some time. Still Keith knew that stealing wasn't a thing Shiro would approve, no matter the reason. 

"Well I'm sad to say this but we're closing soon, it's late already" The brown-haired boy said while cleaning the counter more clean than it already was 5 seconds ago. 

"Right, Keith you should probably head home now, your parents must be worried" Shiro finished his glass of water, placed some money on the counter what would pay for not only his but also Keith's water and stood up. 

"Yeah" Sure. Keith never told Shiro that he was living in an old shack alone and was in foster care before because he just enjoyed it how someone would treat him normally for once. Shiro was nice to him since the day they met, even though he didn't know him at all. Not like the people who would act nice out of pity for a boy whose parents aren't alive anymore. 

"Well then, Adam is probably waiting already so I'm gonna head home now, goodbye stay healthy" 

"Yeah" Keith answered. 

"Come back anytime to grab a drink, Sir" Lance said with a smile on his face. A very beautiful smile.. Look at those soft looking lips.. 

"Well.. Keith right? I can't let you stay here too long, I have to clean up and stuff" The lips suddenly moved and how he said Keith's name brought the dark-haired boy back to realize that he had just stared at those lips for far too long. 

"Yeah right.. Then I'm gonna leave.. Thanks for the water." 

"You're welcome, if you ever get thirsty on a walk again you can come anytime to grab a water" 

"Sure" Keith was just about to stand up but when his foot touched the ground pain made him grimace and gasp out in pain. He totally forgot about his hurt leg. 

"What's wrong? You fine?" Lance went next to Keith, looking at him in worry. 

"Ah it's nothing.. I'm fine" He answered, still struggling to stand on his left leg. 

"Doesn't look like nothing to me." He observed Keith closely and watched at the leg the longest. 

"Are you hurt there?" Lance knew what he was talking about, he was related to so many kids so he could see if someone was hurt or not quickly. 

"I'll manage, thanks for your concern." Keith tried to leave but Lance held onto him. 

"Wait. You can't just leave like that." 

"Ah yeah? And why not?" Keith couldn't help but frown at the boy in front of him. 

"I think it's bleeding. If it's an open wound then you should take care of it as fast as possible. Believe me I know about this. Let me have a look and if I think it's not bad I'll let you go okay?" Lance advised. 

"Fine. If you have to, Mr. Barkeeper" 

"The name's Lance" 

And with that Lance bent down to take a look at the injured leg.


	2. Chapter 2

This view clearly felt like a dream. A beauty was looking out for his injury, with the dim lights in the bar shining perfectly for that guy in front of him.

The only thing what proved that it wasn't a dream was the pain in Keith's leg. But seriously now, how long has it been that someone cared about a wound like this? And now it's a beauty? That truly is too good to be real.

"Man that actually looks pretty bad, how did you end up with this?" Concern was over Lance's face, even though he didn't know Keith at all.

"I fell down." That would be enough wouldn't it?

"Dude. You can't get a deep long scratch like this from simply falling down. Except.. Where the hell did you fall from?" 

"Well.. I uhm.."

Keith remembered the hunt, how they found him and he had to run like so many times before. Only that this time he had to quickly jump over a fence to get to a small narrow way which was full of thrash cans and other rubbish. So when he jumped down he couldn't quite see, that right by his landing point was a sharp edged wooden box or something similar what he had sprung into. 

He scratched his leg deeply from the impact and had to keep himself together to not scream out. But of course he also couldn't just simply stay there until the pain would maybe wear off, so he kept on going. 

But to keep running simply made the pain worse. Every step with the left leg felt like a step in hell. But he couldn't mind less when the police found him and the real and dangerous hunt started.

And that was when he found this place. But of course he couldn't just simply tell Lance just because he helped him and is a beauty. 

"You know what, it's fine you don't have to explain how you fell down. But just don't hate me now okay?"

"Huh?" Keith couldn't quite put the connection there until he saw how Lance stood up.

"We should probably clean it"

With that the beauty took a bottle and went back to Keith.

"Wait no, you don't mean you will-"

And that's all what Keith brought out before gasping out in pain, trying to hold a scream in. How the hell could it burn SO MUCH?! He will totally die today. 

"Sorry! But it has to be!" Lance squished his eyes together shortly while apologizing.

Keith had to stay strong now. He had to focus.

Don't scream.  
Don't scream.  
_Don't scream!_

"Wow I'm impressed" Lance said and made Keith realize that he had stopped pouring onto the wound.

"My siblings and nephews would totally non-stop cry about now" The barkeeper said while putting the bottle away.

Keith only managed to stare at Lance. His leg still burned like hell. Maybe it'll never stop.

Some unknown music suddenly played in front of him and Lance took out his phone.

"Oh right I have to close the bar! But before that let me quickly put a bandage on your leg"

"Don't need one"

"Ah yeah? And what are you gonna do when it gets dirty again? Disinfect it again? You really wanna experience that a second time?" That said Lance pointed at the bottle and put the bandage on Keith's leg.

Keith shouldn't put the busy boy in so much trouble.. He really has to thank him properly sometime later.

"There we go, all done!" Lance really seemed to know what he was doing since it looked so much better than every bandage Keith has ever put on anywhere. But the best was how Lance smiled at him.

"Thanks"

"You're welcome.. But I really have to close the bar now" Even though he said that he still looked worried.

"R..right, I'll be going then" That said Keith tried to stand up what made his leg burn even more.

"Hey wait, slowly! You're still hurt!" Lance said and gave him a hand.

"It's fine. Home is not that far anyway I'll manage" He lied, placing his whole weight on his uninjured leg. 

"You sure?" The brown-haired boy looked pretty concerned.

"Yeah" Keith managed to limp to the door.

"...if you say so..good luck"

"Thanks" And with that Keith limped out of the bar.


	3. Chapter 3

As Keith limped out of the bar, he realized what a long night this would be. He would have to manage to limp the long way from the city to the desert. Except.. He could hitch a ride.. He looked if there was a last bus or any public vehicles, but to his luck there weren't any. 

_Guess I have to catch a ride with some strangers then._

That thought done, he limped closer to the street and waited for someone who wouldn't drive past him. After a while he felt like it would be faster if he would just walk but right then a car stopped next to him. 

"Hey there, you need a ride?" A middle-aged man with orange hair and mustache asked.

"Yeah, just a bit closer to the desert would be fine." The dark-haired boy said before the man waved his hand to let Keith know he should enter the car.

After he did so, the man started driving. "So.. What is a young boy like you doing that late, trying to hitch a ride? Did you miss the last bus?"

"Yeah.." Keith answered, not sure what to think of this man who apparently likes to fondle his mustache. 

"I see. Well I'm on the way to my niece you know? If I look at you, I think my niece is a little older." He said as he looked at Keith shortly before he kept on watching the road. 

The younger one didn't really know what to say to this but mustache-guy already kept on talking. 

"The name's Corran, what about you young boy?" He asked. 

"Keith" 

"Oh what a nice name. You know, I once knew someone with a similar name.. What was it again? Oh right, Kenneth! Oh that one was a popular one back in the day, let me tell you about our adventures." And with that, Corran started a long story what actually kept Keith from getting bored while driving and soon he thought that this man was a nice and talkative guy. 

"Oh wait, before I start and tell you another one, I have to turn left here is that also where you are headed?" 

Keith looked outside and saw that they were already closer to the desert than he had thought. "This is already close enough to my home, thanks for driving me." 

"It was fun to drive with you, maybe we'll meet again someday." The orange-haired man said after Keith got out of the car and closed the door. 

That guy really helped Keith a lot, because now he didn't have to walk that much anymore. Slowly he managed to find his way through the dark desert until he arrived at the old shack. Exhausted as he was, he dropped right into his bed and slept like a stone.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The bright sun shone into the shack what slowly woke Keith up. He surely has slept long, when it's already that bright and warm it means that it's already lunchtime. Slowly he sat up, looked at his phone and saw that he got some messages from the others who were involved with the stealing yesterday. 

"Did the police get you?! Don't tell them anything okay? We mustn't get caught!!" 

"I hope you're fine, we got you an extra loan for drawing all the attention of the police to you." 

"Notify us as soon as you can." 

That was again typical.. Still he replied to let them know he didn't get caught. And of course the immediate answer to that was: "Very good, because we already have another plan for tonight. Come meet us at the usual place at 9pm." 

Keith sighed at that, but he knew how important that was for them in order to survive so he agreed. It was then when he noticed what day and how late it was. 

"Fuck, the anniversary! And I've school today!" He jumped out of the bed and regretted it immediately when his hurt leg shoot out a wave of pain. Cursing he limped to brush his teeth and made himself ready as quickly as he could, before he went on his bike. _If I had taken the bike with me yesterday, it would've been easier to get home.._ That in thought he drove off. 

When he arrived it was already the end of lunchbreak and he ran into the classroom, trying to get in before the teacher would. No surprise he didn't make it and the teacher lectured him.

"Kogane, late once again. How many times is that now? I'd like to hear your excuse later, come to me after the lesson." Keith could feel the stare of his classmates on him as he sat down on his chair. 

The lesson kept on and the raven-haired boy mostly spaced out, waiting for school to be over, to meet up with Adam. As soon as the bell rang, everyone quickly packed their stuff and one boy Keith couldn't stand provoked him.

"I'm glad my mom cares about me enough to wake me up every morning so I'm not always late like you. Oh my bad, I forgot that you don't have one. I almost feel sorry for you." He said with a fake grin. "Have fun with the teacher, Kogayne."

Suddenly Keith smashed his hands loudly at the table as he stood up, which was also painful for his leg. That pain made him think before he acted. No matter how much he would like to beat the shit out of this guy, he can't risk it to start another fight. Especially not with the teacher looking, so he just took it in and went to get his lecture. After that he was sure that his mood is ruined for the day.

He left the classroom and walked to the exit until he saw someone familiar. A brown-haired, beautiful boy walked a bit further in front if him. Wait.. That was the barkeeper! He wasn't alone though, two friends of him, one big guy who seemed to be nice and a smaller one with glasses on accompanied him.

The black-haired boy just stared at them for a while until Lance turned his head slightly and seemed to notice the stare of Keith. As soon as the beauty looked back, Keith stared down and kept on walking to the exit. What he didn't see was how Lance looked at him, taking a while to recognize him.

"Hey, what are you spacing out for? What, do you know this guy?" Pidge asked while poking Lance on his shoulder, trying to get his attention back. It took a while before he reacted.

"Right!" The brunette suddenly shouted out, what made Hunk jump.

"Oh my! Man don't scare me like that!" Hunk held his chest and shortly breathed heavily until he calmed down.

"Sorry Hunk, but I just recognized this guy! That was the one I told you about, the one who came to the bar yesterday!" He pointed at Keith who was now outside the building next to his bike. Before Lance could say anything else, he watched how Keith drove away with the wind fondling trough his hair. _This mullet.._

"I think that's his new crush." Pidge said after she hit Hunk in a friendly way with her elbow.

"Yeah, he's never spaced out so much. But do you think it's gonna work out? I think I heard a few bad things about this 'new crush'.." He asked quietly but the cuban boy still heard him and finally gave his friends some attention.

"What are you guys talking about behind my back, huh?" He moved his head closer and pointed at them before they backed off a little.

"N..Nothing?" Hunk tried to evade but Pidge did the opposite. "We're gonna help you getting to know this guy better. But only if we're sure he's a good person."

"Wh..WHAT? Who said I wanna know him better?" He waved his arms around wildly in denyance but the others just looked at him seriously.

"Dude, you've been talking about this guy nonstop today and spaced out as soon as you saw him. If that isn't interest I don't know what is." With that the big guy won and Pidge grinned widely. "Looks like he's gone for today, but since we're apparantly going to the same school you're gonna see him again. Good luck!" She said, before they parted ways and went home.

. 

. 

Instead of driving home Keith parked his bike in front of Shiro's apartment and rang the bell. As soon as the door opened, Adam looked quite annoyed but smiled a little as he saw Keith. 

"Hello Keith, come in. I just tried to bake again but it's a disaster. Maybe I'll buy a cake after all.." he sighed as he stepped into the Kitchen. 

"It's gonna be fine, like I told you I can help. Me and my dad used to always bake on our anniversaries." He took off his shoes and walked to wash his hands right away while Adam got curious about his statement. 

"Used to?" 

Fuck, how could he forget? They don't know he's an orphan. "Uhm.. I mean we still do." 

He heard a quiet "I see." before he went to the kitchen as well. He didn't expect to find a real mess of splattered dough on the table and wall as well as some egg shards inside the dough. 

"Do you think you can rescue **that** before Takashi gets home?" Adam didn't look hopeful at all. But Keith got right into the cleaning and explaining. 

"Let me guess, you held the mixer up high in the bowl and it splattered the whole dough around?" 

"Yeah it's probably broken, but how do you know I did that?" Adam raised an eyebrow at the younger one. 

"I did that my first time as well. You should always hold the mixer like this to avoid it." He said as he held the mixer deeper into the dough. "The mixer isn't broken, see?" 

Like that the baking-session went on until the cake was ready for decoration. 

"Well now I guess we put the cream on?" Adam asked before Keith nodded. He left most of the cream adding and decoration to the older one, it was Adam's and Shiro's anniversary after all. Meanwhile he started to clean everything and so some time passed and it was time for Shiro to come home. 

As soon as they heard his car, the brunette stood at the front door to meet his darling and Keith leaned onto the kitchen door, where he could see the two lovebirds hugging each other before both went in. 

"Hey Keith, good to see you." Shiro said as the raven-haired boy waved at him. Adam grinned at him before he pushed his lover into the kitchen. 

"Now look at this Takashi. Isn't that a masterpiece?" 

"Wow, this looks yummy! Did you guys bake it?" Shiro fixated his eyes on the cake to look at every detail. 

"Yeah, Keith was a great help. You know without him the kitchen would be a mess now. Cooking is okay but baking was never really my strength." Adam stated, what made Shiro look at Keith but before he said anything, the youngest one spoke up. 

"Adam did all the decoration though." 

"Well thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it. Man it nearly is a shame to cut this cake into pieces. Let's make a picture of it first." He said as he took out his phone. 

"That's a good idea." Adam agreed. 

Keith went to Shiro. "Let me make the picture then, it's your anniversary after all." 

"No way, you're gonna get into this picture, young man. Get your ass over here." The brunette ordered.

"Adam, language."

"Just move here, will you? Both of you. It's gonna be a selfie." That said, they took a picture, ate the cake afterwards and talked until it was time for Keith to leave. 

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you home? Your parents must be concerned." Shiro asked. 

"Nah, it's fine I'm here with my bike. Have fun at your anniversary, see you." With that he drove off. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

Later Keith found himself in a dark, abandoned and shady parking lot, together with the other orphans in need. The meeting as they call it began with the first and oldest group member speaking up. 

"As you all know, the last mission brought us enough to get everyone here a half full stomach for a day, but this is not enough. In our next plan we will have two newcomers coming with us. Keith, I want you to teach them how to not get caught." Keith was very surprised at this statement and opened his mouth for protest but saw that the 'leader' kept on talking, as if there was no room for discussion. 

"The others will proceed the main task, which is robbing this place you can see on this map. Don't worry about the ethics, it's from the family who beat Robby and Danny up. They haven't deserved their money, especially not when they spent it on alcohol and drugs and beat the children, they should be watching out at, up." He stated, before he explained how every attending person would get in and what their job would be. After he was finished and everyone prepared to leave for the mission, Keith went to him.

As the leader saw him coming, he already seemed to know what this was about. "I know you're not happy with this." 

"Why did you put me in for that job? I am no teacher." The raven-haired boy said, frowning at the older teen in front of him. 

"Because you have the experience. Come on, everyone knows you are the best at dashing out of the danger with the weirdest plans for escape just when you need them. You are born for this. Now I think you should try and teach them your way of survival." He answered, truly meaning what he said. Keith could hear the respect in his voice. 

"But I never teached anything to anyone! How am I supposed to-" The hothead started but got cut off with a finger placed on his mouth.

"You will nail it. Just like you never fail anything we ask of you." That got Keith silent and after some quiet seconds the leader took the map, rolled it together and put it in a bag. "Come on, meet the newbies." 

Guess he would have to do the job after all. That thought done, he followed the lead and saw two rather young boys nervously standing there. 

"These two are Leo and Will, guys this is Keith. You're gonna go with him and learn how we handle things. Ah and better listen to him or he'll bite." The oldest one smiled at them. "Mission is starting, be ready." That said he left.

"Okay. Lets go guys." Keith went a few steps forward before Leo spoke up.

"Wha- just like that? You won't say anything? Isn't there anything we should watch out of?"

Keith sighed before he thought a little about it. "I guess its clear that you mustn't be loud when we reach the location and that you can't let your guard down. You have to react quickly to everything, but don't rush your task." That should work out, right?

"Okay.. We're gonna make it!" The younger one said.

Keith made sure he had his mask and knife with him before they went to the location and the mission started.


End file.
